In celebration of Open Education Week (March 10-15, 2014), SPARC was pleased to present this webcast on March 13, about how academic and research libraries are leading the way on Open Educational Resources.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that either reside in the public domain or carry a license that permits their free use, sharing and adaptation by all users. From textbooks to course materials, videos to software, journals to digital collections, the creation and sharing of open materials can reduce the cost of textbooks, expand access to knowledge, and support student success.

This webcast features three librarians who have been leading OER projects on their campuses. Each provides an overview of the project, discusses the impact achieved for students, and provides practical tips and advice for other campuses exploring OER initiatives.

Marilyn Billings, Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. Marilyn coordinates the Open Education Initiative, which has saved students more than $750,000 since 2011 by working with faculty to identify low-cost and free alternatives to expensive textbooks.

Kristi Jensen, Program Development Lead, eLearning Support Initiative, University of Minnesota Libraries. The University of Minnesota has emerged as a national leader through its Open Textbook Library, which is a searchable catalog of more than 100 open textbooks. The Libraries also partnered with other entities on campus for their Digital Course Pack project, which has helped streamline the course pack process and make materials more affordable for students.

Shan Sutton, Associate University Librarian for Research and Scholarly Communication, Oregon State University Libraries. The OSU libraries are partnering with the OSU Press for a pilot program to develop open access textbooks by OSU faculty members. The program issued an RFP in the fall, and recently announced four winning proposals that will be published in 2014-2015.